The production of animal litter from various mineral and biomass granular materials that are decorated with urine-activated clumping agents is well known to the art. Representative examples are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,458,091 and 6,053,125. While such animal litter products have generally been effective, the generally modest urine absorption by a base granule has meant that urine entrainment has had to occur through the wetting and activation of the surface decorating clumping agent. This mechanism results in a less efficient use of litter than would otherwise be obtainable provided the base granule was urine absorbent.
Since conventional animal litters are formed from a large granule decorated with clumping agent, granule irregularity in both shape and size tends to create tracking of the resulting litter by an animal after usage in addition to dust formation associated with granule bumping during transport. A still further limitation of conventional animal litter products is that the typical granule size decorated with clumping agent forms a mass that is unsuitable for disposal in most septic systems and therefore must be handled as solid waste.
The ability to form a clump upon wetting that has sufficient strength remains a challenge on balance with the needs for limited dusting, material density, and price fluctuations associated with various conventional clumping agents such as guar gum. Clump strength upon hydration also presents considerable problems in the area of drilling fluids used for oil and other extraction processes. While these requirements have conventionally been addressed using clays, these results have met with limited success.
Many varieties of cement undergo a hydration reaction and bind water as part of the cure reaction. Cement has largely been discounted for uses such as a litter where clumping is desired owing to dust problems.
Thus, there exists a need for a cementitious material inclusive a clumping agent mixture that affords superior properties and has application as an animal litter.